If there's a single guiding motif to this debut recording from Love Theme, it's the melancholic throb of love learnt and love lost, a descent that tumbles and slips through the overall feeling of looking back. As intimately and carefully as its parts cohesively lament a narrative, it's the after-image that catches your breath, like a memory morphing as it is observed. Comprised of Alex Zhang Hungtai, of the now defunct project Dirty Beaches, along with Austin Milne, and Simon Frank, Love Theme is arranged from an improvised session with twin saxophones, synthesizer, percussion, drum machine, and voice. The aching wane of the saxophone arrangements frisk the propulsive aggro of the mixed percussion, forcing a melancholic halo upon the queasy stupor of the synthetic swing that closes each side of the record. It's a bizarre lust for life that's being divined from equal parts dislocation and invigoration, a potent remedy which perhaps Love Theme can call their own. Percolating and finding form over time, the record instinctively follows a travel narrative, moving across a series of landscapes, reflecting the innate experiences of the expressions and voices that were first collected in South London back in February 2015.

Cardiff's Chain Of Flowers return to Alter with their first new material since 2015's self-titled debut album (ALT 022LP/CLR-LP). Despite "Let Your Light In" offering a more optimistic tone to what fans of their debut may be used to, the charismatic guitar hooks, hazy vocals, and fist-to-the-horizon anthemic qualities of the group are no less present. "Flesh, Blood And Bone" on the other side channels perfectly the bombastic new wave ambition of early Simple Minds, alongside the dramatic post-punk melancholy of the Chameleons.

Made of 14 sketches -- each reflecting one of the many shades of Antinote's catalog -- Five Years Of Loving Notes features new names as well as those artists who have been involved with the label since it's very beginning, like Geena or Iueke. The music on this compilation covers a wide spectrum of moods and atmospheres, from the dark and raw excursions from Tolouse Low Trax or Iueke, to the lush instrumental crafted by Nico Motte and Syracuse's Antoine Kogut; however as the listener gets deeper into the compilation, the whole of the tunes, sitting side-by-side on the record, start to make sense as they all seem to point towards the same direction. If one should try isolating a common trait from all these songs, they come to the conclusion that it lies in the way they all speak directly to the listener's emotional receptors, unvarnished and without abusing of producer's "tricks". This is a 63-minute long testimony of exclusive music by the artists who have been shaping Antinote's sound for five years; from the opening Latvian arabesques from Domenique Dumont to the Pink Floyd-ian ending from the latest addition to the label, Alek Lee, via Leonardo Martelli's smoggy electro and Raphael Top Secret's ominous talk-over. Also features: Stéphane Laporte, DK, Inoue Shirabe, Geena, Natsukashii, The Simplists, Or Edry, and Yovav. Comes in a gatefold sleeve.

LP version. Bristol's finest post-punk polemics Idles have been promising to do great things for some time now, and with their debut album Brutalism, they absolutely fulfill that promise, a furious promise at that. Politically charged, refreshingly confrontational, and infectiously volatile, Idles are a band like no other. Bringing the unsettling reality of the world we live in into their frantic assault on the senses, they are a band that until now could only be truly understood by witnessing in a live environment. But with Brutalism, it surely feels like they have captured the intensity of that live sound. Bottled up here are the abrasive, memorable lyrics of Joseph Talbot delivered with all of the spite and wry humor he puts across on the stage. Dedicated in part to the loss of his mother, who adorns the record's cover, and partly to a perceived decimation of society, from the NHS to public services across Britain, Brutalism is a deadly serious indictment on popular culture.

2013 release. The backing band to the most admired composers of the '70s, from Ennio Morricone to Piero Umiliani, I Marc 4 had a unique "Italian soundtrack" style. I Marc 4 recorded several albums on their Nelson label between 1970 and 1976, featuring Antonello Vannucchi's incredible use of his Hammond C3, Roberto Podio's kicking rhythm section, and the legendary Maurizio Maiorana on bass, not to forget the real soul of the band, their guitar player, Carlo Pes. This series of limited 7"s in company sleeves, selects six hyper-groovy tunes off that repertoire. Edition of 333 (hand-numbered).

2013 release. The backing band to the most admired composers of the '70s, from Ennio Morricone to Piero Umiliani, I Marc 4 had a unique "Italian soundtrack" style. I Marc 4 recorded several albums on their Nelson label between 1970 and 1976, featuring Antonello Vannucchi's incredible use of his Hammond C3, Roberto Podio's kicking rhythm section, and the legendary Maurizio Maiorana on bass, not to forget the real soul of the band, their guitar player, Carlo Pes. This series of limited 7"s in company sleeves, selects six hyper-groovy tunes off that repertoire. Edition of 333 (hand-numbered).

2013 release. The backing band to the most admired composers of the '70s, from Ennio Morricone to Piero Umiliani, I Marc 4 had a unique "Italian soundtrack" style. I Marc 4 recorded several albums on their Nelson label between 1970 and 1976, featuring Antonello Vannucchi's incredible use of his Hammond C3, Roberto Podio's kicking rhythm section, and the legendary Maurizio Maiorana on bass, not to forget the real soul of the band, their guitar player, Carlo Pes. This series of limited 7"s in company sleeves, selects six hyper-groovy tunes off that repertoire. Edition of 333 (hand-numbered).

Magazine is the inaugural issue of Blank Forms' journal, bringing together a combination of never-before published, lost, and new materials that supplement the non-profit's live programs. It is envisioned as a platform for critical reflection and extended dialogue between scholars, artists, and other figures working within the world of experimental music and art. Following "Let Freedom Fry" -- a short statement by Joe McPhee drawing out the contemporary political climate in relation to his practice as a creative improviser -- the magazine is bookended by four texts surrounding the practice of pioneering sound artist Maryanne Amacher; an essay by Bill Dietz on his collaborations with Amacher and his work with her archive; an unpublished 1988 interview highlighting Amacher's ideas around her Long Distance Music and Mini Sound Series; a conversation between Marianne Schroeder, Stefan Tcherepnin, and Lawrence Kumpf revealing the archival questions raised by Amacher's work; and science fiction writer Greg Bear's short story Petra, a tale of gargoyles coming to life and breeding with humans in a post-apocalyptic Notre Dame, from which Amacher's 1991 piece got its name. This issue also includes Branden Joseph's interview with The Dead C's Bruce Russell, accompanied by Russell's essay exploring the Situationist tradition of "mis-competence" in New Zealand electronic music. Charles Curtis contributed notes on the interpretive challenges posed by a posthumous performance of Terry Jennings's minimalist classic Piece For Cello And Saxophone. Shelley Hirsch, Richard Skidmore, and Dennis Hermanson provide a series of writings on and remembrances of the late Ralston Farina, whose scarcely documented "visual poetry" was an important precursor to what we now call "performance." And from her own 2016 performances at the Emily Harvey Foundation, Dawn Kasper supplies her original proposal document and score notes for an improvisational interpretation. Magazine features two new French-translations: an excerpt from François Bonnet's book of phenomenology, The Infra-World, translated by Robin Mackay, and a Christophe Broqua interview with enigmatic huntress of sounds Anne Gillis, translated by Adrian Rew. Ian Nagoski's rare 1998 conversation with Éliane Radigue, conducted and largely ignored at a time when there was little interest in her music, provides one of the clearest overviews of the visionary composer's early work and life. Supplementing the texts are numerous archival photos and documents, plus "Dark Matters", a poem by Joe McPhee. Edited by Lawrence Kumpf and Joe Bucciero.

LP version. Printed inner sleeve. In 1966, a new pulse spread like wildfire on the sidewalks of Spanish Harlem and local radio waves. Like no music genre ever before, boogaloo brought together African Americans and Latinos. As the ultimate musical syncretism of popular genres in the Barrio, boogaloo is often described as "the first Nuyorican music". A revolutionary hurricane was then blowing on Amerika: in the trail of the Black Panthers and the Young Lords Organization, minorities were gathering in the streets to reclaim their rights from the establishment. Boogaloo was the soundtrack of a social revolution overtaking the country, before it got overshadowed by salsa. Boogaloo's energy seduced young people from different backgrounds, well beyond the borders of the USA, and especially in the Caribbean cradle land. From Fort-de-France to Pointe-à-Pitre, old biguines and mazurkas from West Indian orchestras strong of a bloodline of virtuosos, from father-to-son, became outdated by those modern beats. On Fred Aucagos's "Ti Man'zelle", there's a subtle mix of imports from the mainland, the USA, and the neighboring islands. Musicians dabbled with boogaloo, coming up with rather unorthodox interpretations. This is precisely what gives this compilation its singularity. It incorporates influences from the African continent thanks to the Rico Jazz (an adaptation of "Si Tu Bois Beaucoup" of the Congolese rumba orchestra O.K. Jazz). It rubs elbows with the "Jerk Vidé" of a David Martial before he turned in a doudouiste cliché. With the cheeky humor of the Guyanese Dany Play ("Mais Tu Sais"), the perkiness of Joby Valente ("Disk La Rayé" with Camille Soprann on sax), the listener (re)discovers classics published on two historic Guadeloupean labels: Aux Ondes of producer Raymond Célini, and Disque Debs, whose boss Henri Debs can be heard on "Ou Pas Z'ami En Moins". "Ou Qué Di Moin" from Monsieur X is a Creole funk pamphlet, neither Latin, nor festive, and not strictly boogaloo for that matter. The Nuyorican rhythm is a tiny fraction of what the West Indies orchestras were playing, as they often incorporated biguine and Haitian kopi elements. Assisted by Jean-Baptiste Guillot, Julien Achard spent over three years compiling this best of the Creole boogaloo. Also features: Maurice Alcindor, Gabby Siarras, Les Bois Sirop, Le Ry-Co Jazz, and Les Vickings. LP version comes with a printed inner sleeve with liner notes in English and French.

The Paris-based Collapsing Market label unveil a gem of found art with Tschashm-e-Del: a radio play recorded in Iran sometime during the '60s by Morteza Hannaneh, co-founder of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra with Parvis Mahmoud, and the grandfather of Collapsing Market co-owner Cyrus Goberville, who discovered the recording on a tape at his home. Without definitive records to go from, Tschashm-e-Del was presumably recorded in the '60s (certainly pre-revolution) and quite possibly broadcast on Radio Tehran. Now restored from the original reels, it reveals a gorgeous and important suite of music set to a Ghazal -- an ancient Arabic ode, or poetic expression of the pain and beauty of love, loss or separation -- written by Hatef Esfehani, who was a famous Iranian poet of the 18th century. The ghazal deals with the founding principles of Sufism and monotheism through a love story between Hatef and a Christian girl, with Morteza Hannaneh's musical arrangement matching the specific rhyming structure of its ancient classical form, itself rooted in tradition stretching back to at least the 10th century, whilst also incorporating string elements of western orchestration relating to Hannaneh's background in composing for cinema. It's the kind of music you might expect to turn up on a Folkways or Dead-Cert release. It's presented with artwork made by Thomas Jeppe, a noted artist familiar with Persian culture; the sleeve image depicts the Ashura procession. Edition of 500.

Ed Davenport continues his techno experiments as Inland with an elegant EP entitled Coriolis. "Coriolis" is a moody ten-minute voyage with a morphing synth array at its core -- bright, detuned stabs are layered upon tough rhythmic foundations. The jagged metallic lead builds, unearthing harmonic bleep accents and syncopated FX swells before folding in on itself. "D10D3" plows forward with an urgent staccato sequence, segueing into Italo-horror filter sweeps and noise-laden moments of drama. Finally, "Tsereteli" is a more reduced modern dub study, continuing Ed's long running fascination with tranced-out time stretching and after-hours vibes. Cover art by Guy Archard.

Zulu EP brings the slow burning dancefloor energy of 1980s South Africa into sharp focus. Comprised of Sello Mmutung and Keith Hutchinson, the original six track album Zulu Disco was recorded in Johannesburg circa 1983. Each track shows the fever for American funk and disco that was sweeping through South Africa at the time, but with unmistakable township elements, infectious grooves, simple melodies, and deep synth workouts. Side A is for the dancefloor and Side B is full of deep, Afro-centric chuggers. Zulu EP includes the original version of "Moger", later covered by Starlight and Ray Phiri's side project, Kumasi.

"New offering from Russia's shamanic ritualists Phurpa. Channeling the void with their eerie and engulfing overtone ritual chants rooted in the BON tradition of Tibet, their mesmerizing rituals are used as a tool of transmogrification. The chanting meditations are accentuated by the use nga drums, rolmo cymbals, gyaling oboes, as well as telescopic dunchen horns, dunkar shells and short wandun horns. Their performances are meant as exercises in aural power, channeled primordial sounds aimed to alter ones consciousness, otherworldly prayer mantras pulsating through the chakras. This exhaustive double album was recorded in Moscow, Russia in March 2016. Let go and touch the emptiness... Edition of 500 copies in Gatefold A5 sleeve."

The incredibly gifted Brazilian duo Elekfantz return with this beautiful 180 gram limited edition "translucid clear vinyl", including an extended version of "Blsuh" and a massive remix by label boss Gui Boratto. "Blush" is pure Elekfantz beats, pushing its melodic DNA with beautiful vocals and synths at its best. While Gui Boratto gives his well-known techno punch and unique touch to it, "Blush" is a dancefloor jewel in any town and club. If the forecast is anything to go by, so is Elekfantz, the indie heroes who joined D.O.C. to spread their music and explosive energy.

Central on Pillow Peace: "This album with the semi-melancholic song 'Pillow Peace' is very personal to me. After a year of forgetfulness, my Dutch friends collected the number. Marco helped me mix it completely and together we made the alternate version. 1000 thanks to Casper and Marco."

From The Heart, It's A Start, A Work Of Art has its origins in early 2000, before Chain Reaction released the legendary Ship-Scope 12" (later released by Demdike Stare in 2015, DDS 014EP). Three of the tracks here are taken from an acetate cut at Dubplates & Mastering at that time, but which wouldn't see the light of day until now, including another batch of tracks taken from original masters. Only five copies of that acetate were ever made, so this is the first time any of these tracks are available for public consumption, and they rank among the finest and most distinctive in either the Chain Reaction or Shinichi Atobe's vaults. The material is effectively some of the Japanese producer's earliest work, showcasing the sort of tender, feminine pressure that would bubble up on the Ship-Scope EP and later be revealed in his new productions, Butterfly Effect (DDS 010CD) and World yet, for many reasons, they would lay sunk in his archive for the next 17 years. The tracks taken from that acetate are labeled "First Plate 1-3" and really are quite remarkable, having taken on so much character and added weight over the years that the incidental crackle of surface noise imbues proceedings with an added dimension that's hard to fathom. It basically sounds like a lost transmission making its way from Paul-Lincke-Ufer at the turn of the millennium to a new, completely changed world all these years later. The patina of crackle lends a mist-on-bare skin feeling akin to summer garden parties at Berghain in the stepping "First Plate 1", and gives a foggier sort of depth perception to the hydraulic, Maurizian heft of "First Plate 2", but it's the submerged euphoria of "First Plate 3" that hits the hardest; a heady, bittersweet reminder of days gone by. The other four tracks are crisply transferred from master tapes, relinquishing a sublime, impossible to categorize house variant that recalls everything from DJ Sprinkles to Ron Trent, yet with that weird, timeless production tick that by now has become something of a signature for this most distinctive and hard to categorize producer. Buoyant dub house and techno with lush, gaseous synths and keys. Remastered by Matt Colton from original tapes and worn actetates -- grit included; Limited copies.

Doxy present a picture disc reissue of Bob Marley and The Wailers' Soul Revolution Part II, originally released in Jamaica in 1971 and produced by Lee 'Scratch' Perry. Soul Revolution Part II is a sequel of sorts to Bob Marley And The Wailers' debut LP, 1970's Soul Rebel. The Wailers' work with Scratch is considered by many reggae fans to mark career pinnacles for all involved, and classic hymns like "Don't Rock My Boat" or the re-visitation of Curtis Mayfield's "Keep On Moving" were destined to become among the more widely hailed efforts in the repertoire of Bob Marley. A historical milestone in early reggae history, pressed in a beautiful limited edition picture disc; Includes two bonus tracks.

Doxy present a picture disc reissue of Original Sun Sound Of Johnny Cash, originally released in 1964. Though Johnny Cash had been at Columbia for several years by the time this LP was originally released, he recorded and released such a tremendous amount of music between 1955 and 1958 at Sun Studios in Memphis, that Sun Records was releasing his work long after he had defected to a new label. Featuring 12 fantastic recordings with his Tennessee Two and others, including "The Ballad Of A Teenage Queen", his wonderful take on "Goodnight Irene", and the immortal "Big River". Reissued here on a beautiful limited edition picture disc.

Doxy present a picture disc reissue of Robert Zimmerman Plays Bob Dylan, a compilation released by the label in 2013. As the title, Robert Zimmerman Plays Bob Dylan, implies, these recordings show the young man everybody knows as Bob Dylan, finding his way in New York City after bumming a ride from Madison in the early months of 1961. Featuring songs that were left off of his first two Columbia LPs, Bob Dylan (1962) and The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963), as well as other assorted demos and unreleased recordings, this essential LP of early recordings perfectly captures his growth from traditional folk music interpreter into what he would become: America's greatest living songwriter. Presented here on a limited edition picture disc.

Doxy present a picture disc reissue of Thirty Weeks in 1963, originally released by the label in 2014. Deluxe picture disc LP documenting the first days of Beatlemania. Through 30 weeks, from February 11 to September 12, the best band of all-time is captured here in the days before their American invasion. Presented here on a limited edition picture disc.

2017 repress; LP version. Rids the World of the Curse of the Vampires (1981) not only ably displays Scientist's varied approach, but also clocks in as one of his best outings. Scientist keeps things lively with plenty of reverb and echo-treated percussion, ghostly piano parts, video game sound effects, and other wobbly interjections from the mixing board. The record's expert evocation of the Halloween spirit also includes some fiendishly-voiced intros, the cover art's cartoon potpourri of horror film characters, and the dubious claim made in the liner notes that Scientist mixed it all at midnight on Friday the 13th. Along with Keith Hudson's Pick a Dub (1974) and Lee Perry's Blackboard Jungle Dub (1973), this is one of the essential dub albums.

The second part of the Jacob F. Desvarieux anthology on Endless Flight. "Sika" by Georges Décimus, bass player of Desvarieux's band Kassav, features outer-national synth works driven by salsa-like percussions and sweet steel-drum melodies. It appeared on Décimus's solo debut La Vie (1983). "Avèou Doudou", written by the former Kassav keyboarder Jean-Claude Naimro, was released in 1985. His tune spreads feathery synth-laden Caribbean boogie vibes. "Do Bay Lan Main" comes from zouk pioneer and former Kassav singer Patrick Saint-Éloi. Japanese producer Kuniyuki delivers a unique edit of "Sika".

Jonathan Nangle is a Dublin composer whose work explores many diverse fields -- from notated acoustic and electro-acoustic compositions, through live and spatially distributed electronics, to video, sound installation, and electronic improvisation. His transcendent music for strings comes to life in these luminous recordings by Crash Ensemble, Ireland's leading ensemble for adventurous new music. This is music of serene focus; often fragile, always intricately woven. In "Where Distant City Lights Flicker On Half-Frozen Ponds", Nangle enhances a solo violin with electronic resonators which subtly color the musical material like a heat shimmer. "My Heart Stopped A Thousand Beats" is a slow ritual for viola and cello, unfurling into a series of fragments. The mercurial title track "Pause" was inspired by the idea of data glitches in both music and visual media. A snippet of music by early twentieth-century American composer Charles Ives is processed, rearranged, and deliberately glitched, serving as a springboard to new material. The two "Fragment" tracks also featured on the album are short improvisations on passages that occur within "Pause" -- reflections of fleeting images. The album closes with "Tessellate" for cello and electronics, inspired by the phenomena of tessellations, where a shape is repeated over and over again, covering a plane without any gaps. RIYL: Kronos Quartet, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter, Kevin Volans, David Lang, Ólafur Arnalds, Nico Muhly.

LP version. Nomade Orquestra return from the stratosphere via Brazil with their second offering: Entremundos ("Between Worlds"). Gazing outward through a kaleidoscope from the heart of Sao Paulo's jazz scene, the collective consciousness of the ten-man orquestra has dreamt up an adventurous amalgam of earth's most far reaching musical cultures. Recorded at Red Bull Studios, Sao Paulo, Entremundos is like a cosmic musical playground where Ethio-jazz, Indian classical, and Oriental sounds dance around Afro-Brazilian roots rhythms and Northern hemisphere jazz, funk, soul, library music, and hip-hop influences. The sheer vastness of the album is astounding, Nomade Orquestra have quite literally conquered the world in sound. Nomade Orquestra are some of the most accomplished musicians in their city. They're also avid record collectors, citing the coming-together of their expansive musical knowledges as key to their unique sound. Album opener "Jardim De Zaira" -- a tribute to the neighborhood on the outskirts of the famous ABC region, where the band meet and rehearse -- hosts a playful unison of vibraphone, guitar, horns, and keyboards reminiscent of Stereolab's funkiest late '90s output. "Felag Mengu" lies somewhere between the groovy, brooding Ethio-jazz of Mulatu Astatke and Tinariwen's hazy desert rock, and "Olho Do Tempo" is another enchanting incarnation of the band's impossible to define brand of global roots music. The album's wildest moment comes from the roaring off-road, big-band joy-ride "Rinoceronte Blues" with hillbilly harmonica, soulful organ stabs, and soaring horn arrangements, further highlighting the depths of Nomade Orquestra's endless span of influences. With Gilles Peterson singing their praise and rave reviews from the likes of Wax Poetics, Record Collector, and Songlines, Nomade Orquestra's self-titled debut album (FARO 189CD/LP, 2015) launched them from their humble beginnings to international recognition. They also embarked on their first tour outside of Brazil.

"Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds is Nicole Mitchell's second album for Chicago-based FPE Records. Recorded in May of 2015 at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, it features her longtime collaborators Renee Baker (violin), Tomeka Reid (cello, banjo), Alex Wing (electric guitar, oud) and Jovia Armstrong (percussion), along with new members Tatsu Aoki (bass, shamisen, taiko) and Kojiro Umezaki (shakuhachi). Also in the mix is Chicago artist, scholar and poet Avery R Young, who brings her lyrics to life with visceral humanity. Composer and flutist Nicole Mitchell, once hailed by Chicago Reader music critic Peter Margasak as the 'greatest living flutist in jazz', continues the work begun when jazz visionary Sun Ra and his Arkestra first touched down on Planet Earth and told humanity that space (outer and inner) is indeed the place. As with contemporary Afrofuturist pioneers like cosmic jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington, post-everything beat maker Flying Lotus, R&B cyborg Janelle Monáe and dystopian noise-rappers Death Grips, she uses Afrofuturism as a platform to launch her own, unique vision. Her vast sound often encompasses contemporary classical, globally oriented fusion, gospel, spoken word, funk-inspired groove research and even brittle shards of avant-rock. Mandorla Awakening II collides dualities such as acoustic vs electric, country vs urban, simple vs complex, while also sounding through intercultural dialogue between Black, European and Pan-Asian improvisational languages. The outcome is a creative music suite that blurs musical styles into recognizable fragments that weave a unique sound fabric, where human emotion and the struggles of today swim."

Double LP version. "Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds is Nicole Mitchell's second album for Chicago-based FPE Records. Recorded in May of 2015 at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, it features her longtime collaborators Renee Baker (violin), Tomeka Reid (cello, banjo), Alex Wing (electric guitar, oud) and Jovia Armstrong (percussion), along with new members Tatsu Aoki (bass, shamisen, taiko) and Kojiro Umezaki (shakuhachi). Also in the mix is Chicago artist, scholar and poet Avery R Young, who brings her lyrics to life with visceral humanity. Composer and flutist Nicole Mitchell, once hailed by Chicago Reader music critic Peter Margasak as the 'greatest living flutist in jazz', continues the work begun when jazz visionary Sun Ra and his Arkestra first touched down on Planet Earth and told humanity that space (outer and inner) is indeed the place. As with contemporary Afrofuturist pioneers like cosmic jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington, post-everything beat maker Flying Lotus, R&B cyborg Janelle Monáe and dystopian noise-rappers Death Grips, she uses Afrofuturism as a platform to launch her own, unique vision. Her vast sound often encompasses contemporary classical, globally oriented fusion, gospel, spoken word, funk-inspired groove research and even brittle shards of avant-rock. Mandorla Awakening II collides dualities such as acoustic vs electric, country vs urban, simple vs complex, while also sounding through intercultural dialogue between Black, European and Pan-Asian improvisational languages. The outcome is a creative music suite that blurs musical styles into recognizable fragments that weave a unique sound fabric, where human emotion and the struggles of today swim."

"U-Roy was a true reggae pioneer, dubbed The Originator for good reason. Bursting onto the Jamaican scene in the early 1970s, he pioneered the vocal approach called 'toasting,' which in addition to bringing Jamaican music into a new era, was also heavily influential on an American vocal style also in its infancy: rapping. Following up the Record Store Day 2017 release of U-Roy's classic Dread In A Babylon, Traffic Entertainment Group now brings us a very welcome reissue of the vocalist's 1976 full-length (and fourth) album, Natty Rebel, which has been out of print for more than 30 years. Produced by Tony Robinson (known for his work with Big Youth, Lloyd Parks, the Gladiators and many more), the album's 11 cuts range from bouncier and sometimes even disco-tinged grooves -- 'Have Mercy,' 'Go There Natty' and the album lead-off, 'Babylon Burning' -- to the classic roots stepping that drew fans to the legendary Jamaican vocalist over his long career -- including 'So Jay Jah Say' and 'Natty Kung Fu.' At its core, this is a deep journey into the heart of rasta living, spoken by one of Jamaica's most underrated dub and roots legends, and it's one of the strongest full-lengths in his expansive catalog. Whether you are experiencing U-Roy for the first time, or replacing your decades-old original LP, diving into this reissue of Natty Rebel is one hell of a way to spend an afternoon. Or, if you're not careful, a week or two."

Goodfellas present Buy Or Die! Ralph Records Artworks 1972-2015, the first ever book of its kind on the history of the artwork of The Residents and their label Ralph Records. The life of Ralph Records and The Residents has always been cloaked in obscure mysteries, woven by the anonymous Cryptic Corporation, around which many luminaries have revolved; painters, graphic artists, cartoonists, musicians, film-makers, and writers. All have been channeled together by a powerful creative synergy that helped champion a new, mercurial and thoroughly multi-faceted artifact. Buy Or Die!, for the very first time, brings together a collection of images that represented the sounds of Ralph from 1972 to the present. A historical journey that traces the path of one of the most innovative record labels of the last fifty years. A collection of original, rare, and remarkable images drawn from record covers, fan catalogs, posters, and a wide variety of promotional material, demonstrating the technological and stylistic adaptations undergone through the arc of half a century. 400-page color book in English and Italian.

Squadra Omega represents the vast spectrum of the Italian underground. Psychedelic, avant-garde, jazz-rock, improvisation, kraut-rock, rock in opposition, and ethno-tribalism blend seamlessly into the work of a collective that moves and expands, depending on the urgency of the moment, focused around a core that rotates around the two members OmegaMatt and OmegaG8. In the band's wide discography, you'll find compositional freedom, improvised jam-sessions, and an amplitude of references, all of which move between different spaces and times. Materia Oscura ("dark matter") offers a glimpse at the same time the soil of the "rock" matter as well as the alien, seen from multiple points of view, neighbors, and materials, distant and mysterious. Three tracks that stretch their eyes at the Orient or Africa, as well as into the depths of the cosmos, landing on the side of the art-rock of the '70s and towards some psychedelic, visionary, cinematic drives that explode into a real ecstatic trip. Inputs from Coltrane, Canterburian jazz-rock, Grateful Dead, and synthy-space views are melted into free-form landings until they discover their own personal form of prog. Different universes collide and coexist in the band in a constant mutation, maintaining faith in one single ideal: "music for the third eye". The album comes in a thick carton cover with a central hole.

LP version. Whilst perpetually in tune with the digital disconnect of contemporary life, Fake Laugh's self-titled album is a vivid rummage through sixties US-pop standards and British alternative stalwarts. Fake Laugh showcases a familiar world of love, confusion, and self-questioning, refocused through the bright lens of the London/Berlin based artist Kamran Khan. Tirelessly writing and recording whenever he can, a busy 2016 saw Khan release the energetic Ice EP, the bubbly trepidation of double A side with Mind Tricks/Birdsong Lullaby, and the more complex and serene Great Ideas EP (2016). All three were important steps towards manifesting the right combination for this eagerly anticipated debut. Khan confesses that once upon a time, Fake Laugh was "a bit of fun on the side". However, now with the project his sole focus, there's a revitalized commitment to recording that has seen him finishing the album in 2017. Reuniting once again with producer Theo Verney (Traams, O.Chapman) in Brighton, Khan has brought the intimacy of his bedroom and added it to a more luscious environment. Certain parts of the record date as far back as 2013, whilst others were recorded only just months before the album's release. The result is a record that flows with a wise but youthful abandon. Echoing latter Belle & Sebastian records -- that retained their adolescent flare and longing -- Khan has fortified his dreams rather than forgotten them.

Triple LP version. Includes download code. Following 2016's much-acclaimed solo album Mondo Alterado (HIPPIE 008CD/LP), original Pachanga Boy and Hippie Dance mentor Rebolledo returns to the limelight with the jam-packed Mondo Re-Alterado, tapping into his vast and varied network of friends and fellow soundsmiths. Artists such as Superpitcher, DJ Tennis, Maceo Plex, Red Axes, Fango, or Fantastic Twins deliver stunning takes on Rebolledo's unique signature sound, creating a full suite of exclusive remixes, cover versions, and reinterpretations. From the super-energetic club rumblings of Maceo Plex's "Discótico Pléxico" to DJ Tennis's dreamy "Pimiento Drive Version" of "A Numb Gas To The Future" or Fantastic Twins' party bomb "Fantastic Pow Pow", the journey through Mondo Re-Alterado is full of twists and turns -- a world where an epic, cinematic soundscape such as Superpicher's "Rainboy Super Space" sits comfortably alongside the claustrophobic, punishing banger that Fango sculpted from stand-out cut "Pow Pow". Meanwhile, Red Axes turn the casual narrative of "Life Is Strange, Life Is Hard, Life Is Great" into a bouncing workout -- a great companion piece to "WANT", Danny Daze and Shokh's propulsive, jagged dub version of "Fears Come True". Other highlights include Jörg Burger aka The Black Frame with the lush "Black Rainbow Woman", Paulor's country rock extravaganza "Discótico Desértico" and not one, but two excellent contributions from former Italians Do It Better honcho Mike Simonetti. It's a magical, surprising ride that finds beauty in contrasts -- while staying tuned to Rebolledo's spirit of adventure and powerful sense of style.

Ultra Satan works with the concept of "More is More" and with that principal, they capture the zeitgeist of over consumption, global warming, and skewed resource allocation. The music presents one part of the whole ambition of this group, and is the strongest sounding source right now. But the more long-going plans of this collective, band, or whatever you want to call it, is by secret networks to connect all the freaks who also sense that the end of the world as we know it will come to an end sooner than later.

The feeling of full control characterizes every second of Timothy J. Fairplay's Mindfighter EP, his second release on Höga Nord Rekords. T.J.F picks up influences from everywhere and creates a unique sound: house, techno, electro, kraut, and psychedelia. Drips of discrete and contrasting nuances colors hypnotic grooves and creates the effect of double exposition, like on "Jennifer Has Some Strange Ideas", a love affair between hi-fi and lo-fi. In "Nightmare City", the melodies are reminiscent of horror soundtracks by John Carpenter or Fabio Frizzi. The craftsmanship is undoubted on this trip into a dystopic Europe, a not so distant future.

Double LP version. Includes download code. Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was one of the most popular and forward-thinking composers associated with impressionist music. His innovative and at this time new way to compose music with non-traditional scales and chromaticism inspired countless artists from the likes of Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Miles Davis, and Herbie Hancock. Remarkable attributes of his music include the usage of parallel chords, bitonality, and the many compositions using whole-tone and pentatonic scales, all of which are reminiscent of contemporary electronic music where you hardly find limits or boundaries when it comes to traditional, harmonic sounding scale tone music. After studying countless composers of the last centuries, Marc Romboy decided to accept the challenge to edit, remix, and reconstruct several works of his favorite French composer, ranging from "La Mer" to "Prélude À L'Après-Midi D'Un Faune". Romboy on Debussy: "One sentence of Debussy impressed me a lot when he said that he simply intents to write new sounding music. This is and has been exactly my goal, to create kind of unheard sounds." On the album, Romboy performs together with the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra, the renowned conductor Ingo-Martin Stadtmüller, the well-respected Düsseldorf based concert master Miki Kekenj, and sound programmer Ali Khalaj. The recordings were directed December 12th, 2016. It's the first live recording ever released on an album where electronic sounds and classical components are merged in such manner. Mastered by Steffen Müller. Includes dropcard with download code; High grade artwork and packaging by FELD, Berlin.

LTO is a member of mysterious electronic collective Old Apparatus. Their music -- anonymous, dark, ghostly, subterranean -- was reminiscent of garage and grime scenes, but sheened with a nocturnal miasma and a fierce intellect. Acclaim for Old Apparatus is widespread, with very positive reviews coming from The Wire, Dummy Mag, The Quietus, Gilles Peterson, among plenty more. Storybook combines gentle, dulcet synthesis with deep percussive lines, piano dexterity, and alien-landscape sound-design, softly echoing in-and-out of the space, like Katie Gately remixed into Brian Eno's ambient records, or the poise of Max Richter filtered through Chris Clark's production lens. It has fluidity and elasticity, a human-ness that enwraps the mechanical parts. A highly accomplished pianist (indeed, a piano teacher in his civilian life), LTO's astute musicality is the foundation stone beneath the magic and abstractions of Storybook. 180 gram vinyl.

The next EP on Just This comes from Octual, an established figure on the Dutch underground techno circuit. His third release to date is an exploration in melody and beat composition -- a journey through uncharted territory. "Jupiter's Moon" presents a fleeting view of different landscapes -- claps and hi-hats depict the lights and shadows of a sublunary word. "Untold Places" reaches an otherworldly place where rhythm and meter counteract each other and obscure sounds sway us in and out of reality. Amsterdam based electronic pioneer Sterac provides two remixes, analyzing and repurposing the molecular details of Octual's productions.

"Charlie Ahearn's 1983 film Wild Style holds a place in both music and cinematic history as one of the first examples of a hip-hop film. Since its original release it has been widely praised for its hybrid approach as both a narrative musical and a documentary, and as a time capsule of sorts into the culture of hip-hop during its infancy in the 1980s. Besides its classic depictions of MCing, turntablism, graffiti, and breakdancing, the film also featured now legendary figures of the genres in acting roles, such as Grandmaster Flash, Fab Five Freddy, Busy Bee Starski, and many more. Wild Style went on to garner an immense cult following, portions of the film itself would be sampled in records by artists like Nas, Beastie Boys, MF Doom, and more, and would even be exhibited by museums in Chicago and Boston as part of programs on the art of the 1980s. Beyond the film itself however, Wild Style's soundtrack has gone down in music history as a crucial piece of hip-hop handicraft. During a time where the sampling of records by Queen or Kool & The Gang was commonplace in the hip-hop scene, Ahearn took a different route in soundtracking his film, calling upon seasoned musicians like Chris Stein of Blondie and R&B session drummer Lenny Ferraro to produce an entirely original set of lyric-less groove, which would be sampled into true hip-hop instrumental tracks by turntablist Grand Wizzard Theodore. The mystery and intrigue surrounding the breaks became the stuff of hip-hop legend, and a treasure trove for crate-diggers and vinyl enthusiasts. In association with premium reissue label Get On Down, world-renowned DJ Kenny Dope, a longtime fan of the breaks that made up Wild Style's soundtrack, re-edited the tracks into full-length cuts in 2014. KayDee now presents the singles individually for the first time ever. Each 7" is a piece of hip-hop history, as some of the most highly regarded and sought-after instrumental beats of all time, from one of the most important music films of all time."

"Charlie Ahearn's 1983 film Wild Style holds a place in both music and cinematic history as one of the first examples of a hip-hop film. Since its original release it has been widely praised for its hybrid approach as both a narrative musical and a documentary, and as a time capsule of sorts into the culture of hip-hop during its infancy in the 1980s. Besides its classic depictions of MCing, turntablism, graffiti, and breakdancing, the film also featured now legendary figures of the genres in acting roles, such as Grandmaster Flash, Fab Five Freddy, Busy Bee Starski, and many more. Wild Style went on to garner an immense cult following, portions of the film itself would be sampled in records by artists like Nas, Beastie Boys, MF Doom, and more, and would even be exhibited by museums in Chicago and Boston as part of programs on the art of the 1980s. Beyond the film itself however, Wild Style's soundtrack has gone down in music history as a crucial piece of hip-hop handicraft. During a time where the sampling of records by Queen or Kool & The Gang was commonplace in the hip-hop scene, Ahearn took a different route in soundtracking his film, calling upon seasoned musicians like Chris Stein of Blondie and R&B session drummer Lenny Ferraro to produce an entirely original set of lyric-less groove, which would be sampled into true hip-hop instrumental tracks by turntablist Grand Wizzard Theodore. The mystery and intrigue surrounding the breaks became the stuff of hip-hop legend, and a treasure trove for crate-diggers and vinyl enthusiasts. In association with premium reissue label Get On Down, world-renowned DJ Kenny Dope, a longtime fan of the breaks that made up Wild Style's soundtrack, re-edited the tracks into full-length cuts in 2014. KayDee now presents the singles individually for the first time ever. Each 7" is a piece of hip-hop history, as some of the most highly regarded and sought-after instrumental beats of all time, from one of the most important music films of all time."

"Snakefinger surely needs not much of an introduction. Born Philip Charles Lithman in London, he moved to San Francisco in 1971. His roots lie in the British blues scene, but he soon became friends with The Residents who also gave him the name Snakefinger based on a photograph of Lithman performing, in which his finger looks like a snake about to attack his violin. In 1972 Lithman returned to England and formed the pub rock band Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers. After the lack of success of the second album, he returned to the states and work on his first solo album began. Both Chewing Hides The Sound and Greener Postures were co-written with The Residents. His third solo effort, Manual Of Errors still came out on Ralph Records, but it was mostly written by Snakefinger himself. A couple tracks were collaborations with the Eyeball ones again and some cover versions also appeared. As with our previous Snakey re-issues, Manual Of Errors will feature lots of bonus tracks again and will be remastered carefully."

"Between June 1999 and May 2000 Ralph America posted several Residents MP3s on their website. Shortly afterwards, these exclusive pieces were collected on a limited edition CD entitled Dot.Com. Klanggalerie are proud to present you an updated version of this album, remastered and with new artwork by Pore Know Graphics. In 2013, a new sub label of Ralph was started, Radio Thoreau, on the official Residents website. Radio Thoreau presented a collection of recent Residents tunes 'fixed' by Charles Bobuck into a more radio friendly form: singles. All material was submitted to iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and Google Play for an undefined period. Five of these reworkings are collected here, including one which was never released to the public."

"Chrome was founded in San Francisco in 1975. Their sound wasn't easy to label -- being ahead of their time, Helios Creed and Damon Edge created music that featured heavy elements of feedback and distortion. They experimented in mixing synthesized noise with rock instrumentation, therefore they are now seen as part of the post punk movement (even when punk was still in full flow at that time). Their breakthrough came in 1977 with their second album Alien Soundtracks. The band largely abandoned conventional rock compositions, instead employing cut-up and collage techniques and heavily processed sound to create a kind of sci-fi punk style. The album was given 4 out of 5 stars in the UK music paper Sounds, and Chrome began gradually to gain a cult reputation in the UK and in Europe. In the 1980s Damon Edge released several rather electronic records under the Chrome name, but Helios Creed had by that time left the band. He pursued a solo career but picked up the name Chrome again after Damon Edge died in Paris. The album Ghost Machine came out in 2002 on the German Dossier label. It is an often overlooked gem in the band's discography and has been out of print for over a decade. Creed reinstalled all the Chrome trademark sounds mixing electronics with his distinct guitar sound, and unusual production and mixing methods. This new edition comes in a digipack and with remastered sound."

French sound-smith Sebastien Bouchet returns to Kompakt under his new moniker Sebastopol. Gahalowood seamlessly merges Bouchet's leftfield sensibilities and unlikely riffs with a strong dancefloor drive. "Gahalowood" gets things off the launch pad quickly, thanks to its stoic kick drum and surging synths -- the vocals evolve from atmospheric swabs of texture to full-blown early '80s new wave mumble-core. "Flash Pool" deploys an intimate groove with whispering upfront, but takes an unexpected turn into psychedelic cowbell territory with feral bleeps and growing hooklines. "Heaven" presents a comparatively straightforward house arc, while still sniffing out some trippy goodness.

"40th Anniversary Edition Re-Release -- 2017 digitally remastered by Tom Dams! The LP Mirage, as predicted by Record World, 'will establish Klaus Schulze as one of the most outstanding electronic music composers.' Schulze's flexibility in voice and the final product certainly show the bizarre winter scenery, especially the epic piece 'Crystal Lake', which is loved by Schulze fans all over the world. For many fans Mirage is considered to be one of the most important Klaus Schulze works of the 70s."

Mannequin Records present an LP compilation of Michael Antener's (Swamp Terrorist) early '80s minimal synth/industrial projects Nacht'Raum (with Michael Stämpfli) and his solo project Bande Berne Crematoire. Heavily influenced by the works of SPK and Nocturnal Emissions, Michael Antener made his first recordings in the basement of his parents' house in a small village nearby Bern, Utzensdorf. He started BBC in 1980, a hybrid of Neue Deutsch Welle and noise/experimental, making a household name in the international home recording scene of the time and participating to many tape compilations. Teaming up with Michael Stämpfli as Nacht'Raum, he self-released the untitled mini-LP in 1983. Coming out from the same town of Grauzone, the duo moved into the darkest minimal electronic sounds, choosing German as main language for the lyrics and a Roland TR-808 as main drum machine, bringing the sound to a proto-electro dimension. Nacth'Raum is a real gem in '80s Swiss underground electronic music, together with Mittageisen, Grauzone, LiLiPut, and The Vyllies. Michael, by the way, later teamed up with Ane Hebeisen. They went by the name of Swamp Terrorists, releasing seven albums and touring throughout the world until the end of the '90s. At the end of the '90s, he sold all of his instruments and became an independent graphic artist. Mastered by Rude 666. Includes two inserts; Edition of 500.

Montréal synth pop band Police Des Moeurs are one of the finest and rawest bands in the minimal synth/wave and cold wave scene. Dédales, their third full-length album, keeps the pure energy of their previous efforts while leaving greater room for atmospheric and textural considerations. Dédales leads you into the passage zone between civilization and wilderness, a mysterious place where truth, lies, light, and darkness collide. For fans of New Order, Martin Dupont, Rational Youth, Xeno & Oaklander. Mastering by Rude 66; Graphic design by Alessandro Adriani. Edition of 500.

The Manifesto Of Futurism by Italian poet Filippo Marinetti, published in 1909, still has an intoxicating force. "We want to glorify war . . . to destroy museums, libraries, and academies of all kinds," wrote Marinetti. "We shall sing to the great crowds excited by work, pleasure or rioting, the multicoloured, many-voiced tides of revolution in modern capitals." Color was as important as force to the movement, and it was a search for new sound colors that fired the ambitions of artist and instrument builder Luigi Russolo, who, though quieter than Marinetti, is now seen as the "father of noise". Russolo's work and ideas anticipated the shape of music to come: the early percussion scores of Edgard Varèse and John Cage; electroacoustic music; recording; graphic scores -- not to mention the inevitable sonic onslaught of effects and sound design in movies, TV, and computer games. In his 1913 manifesto, L'Arte Dei Rumori ("The Art Of Noises"), Russolo argued that the history of music, from primitive races through to 19th-century harmonic sophistication, was a progression that went naturally from ancient silence to modern noise: "The limited circle of pure sounds must be broken, and the infinite variety of 'noise-sound' conquered." La Musica Futurista Nell'italia E Nel Mondo is a stunning anthology of true pioneers of electronic/noise music. Features works by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Antonio Russolo, Rodolfo De Angelis, Alexandr Mossolov Eiar Orchestra Victor De Sabata, Arthur Honegger, Dixon Cowell, Julius Ehrlich, Paul Whiteman, Walter Ruttmann, and George Antheil. Comes in a special "flap" deluxe gatefold sleeve, an Italian futurist newspaper replica.

"The cellist and conductor Heinrich Schiff celebrated his 65th birthday in November 2016. . . . A pupil of Navarra and Tobias Kühne, Schiff made his debut in 1971 in Vienna and London. He performed nearly all the essential cello repertoire of the last 300 years from B to Z -- from Bach to B.A. Zimmermann -- and conducted a repertoire of compositions ranging from the Baroque period to the 21st century. He received the 'Grand Prix du Disque' [...] and the 'Deutscher Schallplattenpreis' (German Recording Prize) . . . Although the cello was initially at the center of his career, conducting became an increasingly central part of his life beginning in 1985. . . . As a conductor, Schiff held the position of music director with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Northern Sinfonia, the Musikkollegium Winterthur, and with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. . . . Heinrich Schiff died in Vienna on 23 December 2016. Thus this CD collection, originally planned for the occasion of his 65th birthday, has become his legacy. Despite his 'overfilled' everyday life due to performances, Heinrich Schiff never allowed his calling as a teacher to suffer on account of it. His pupils -- he has taught in Basle, Cologne, Salzburg and now in Vienna -- did not merely learn the high art of cello-playing from him: he prepared them, with warnings, for the well-oiled business of musical life, warning them against being too well-adjusted, a post-modern lack of orientation, artistic indifference and becoming 'affable' in a slick, streamlined way. I always admired the way in which Heinrich Schiff, in his artistic dramaturgy and his choice of repertoire, went against the capitalist market-driven, profit-orientated economy, pursuing his path unerringly and without compromise. . . . The recordings of his interpretations in this CD collection are intended as a portrait of this artist's personality, thus providing an electrifying reflection of the scale of his noble character and convictions." --Dirk Nabering; Translation: David Babcock.Features compositions by: Johann Sebastian Bach, Francesco Geminiani, Antonio Vivaldi, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Antonín Dvo?ák, Anton Bruckner, Max Bruch, Gustav Mahler, Henri Vieuxtemps, Niccolò Paganini, Pyotr Iljitsch Tschaikowsky, Sergei Prokofieff, Reinhold Glière, Helmut Schiff, Dmitri Schostakowitsch, Alfred Schnittke, Witold Lutos?awski, Rudi Stephan, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Friedrich Gulda, Carl Maria von Weber, Franz Schubert, Richard Strauss, Vinzenz Lachner, Claude Debussy, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Henryk Wieniawski.

It's been some time since anyone's heard from Tribe Of Colin (way back in 2015, when that Fruits Of Zion tape took everyone for a real spin). Now the long wait is over. Tribe Of Colin drip feeds four new tracks from a source not specified. Rugged techno tales.

Ismael's addition to the Nous camp is an impressively expansive account of contemporary electronic club music, with one foot firmly planted in a robust and ripe understanding of its roots in gritty US electro funk and proto house, alongside the industrial machine music exemplified by the first wave, while the other foot finds itself skating around a future reticulation, informed emphatically by the hardcore continuum and all of its awesome sonic artillery, while infused with the rhythm and grime of now. Tzusing from L.I.E.S. says "that release is fressshhhh."

Originally released in Japan in 2015 on DJ Emma's Nitelist Music as part of its Acid EP series. JD Twitch scored a copy and both tracks became firm favorites in his sets. Twitch was kindly granted permission to reissue it on Optimo Trax. Hiroshi Watanabe's "Infinity Sign" is a hypno ecstatic acid piano-tingling monolith. Kuniyuki's "Acid Air" is a slow building organic percussive acid freak-out that will cause a freak-out on the floor. It is hard to do anything with a 303 that is interesting these days but both the tracks on this 12" are 100% club classic.

Newcastle-born, Mexico-based Man Power debuts on Optimo Trax with two psycho-sonic missives cuts, extra loud for optimum sound system performance. Man Power on the release: "Both tracks sound different, but they're both from the same place in as much as they represent a conscious effort by me to strip back some of unnecessary niceties in my music and really sharpen my focus on what makes people dance without crossing the fine line of what makes me sound like me."

The Jimmy Cake formed as a ten-piece group in Dublin, Ireland in 2000 from the fresh remains of local experimental rock noise-niks Das Madman. In that time they have collaborated live with the likes of Damo Suzuki, Iva Bittova, and Charles Hayward while slowly drifting over the course of six albums from a pastoral psychedelia to full-on kosmische psych, fully realised on Master, their 2015 aural colossus. Drawing from the same sonic palette, Tough Love is another serpentine and ecstatic creation from one of Ireland's most consistently adventurous bands. Tough Love is the sixth studio album from experimental rock group The Jimmy Cake. Written in 2015 as a continuous piece for a one-off performance in The Joinery, a much-loved and badly-missed arts space in Dublin City, Tough Love is part kosmische post-punk dystopia, part time-lapsed motorik stoner rock. Both sides menace and swell, playing with time and space before building to two distinct strains of glorious sonic pay-off. "Thank God for The Jimmy Cake" --The Journal Of Music In Ireland (Review of Master). "In short, Master confirms The Jimmy Cake are this country's finest experimental rock band, hands down" --The Sunday Business Post (Review of Master). "Every city has one, a band that for some strange reason never really made it beyond its borders yet deserves to take over the world. Instead of being known for U2 or Westlife, Dublin should be known for The Jimmy Cake" --Brainwashed.com (Spectre & Crown Review)

2012 release. Recital's inaugural release, Vanity Fair, is Sean McCann & Matthew Sullivan's debut collaboration album. A fitting introduction to the ethos of Recital; the desire to turn a new page or to more accurately project what is significant and engaging in contemporary music. McCann speaks about the album: "Matt and I had often talked about collaborating, as our musical understandings and interests align. Both drawn to minimalism and graceful ambience, we would trade tidbits and slivers of ideas casually over coffee or wine. For the better part of a year, we procrastinated our theoretical project, which in retrospect allowed our ideas to ferment. So when it actually came time to pop the cork and record, everything fell right into place. What manifested in the studio was lush and enchanting. The pieces are quite varied, and range from the majestic to the tormented, occasionally synthesizing an almost humorous blend of the two. Presenting a manipulated animal and glockenspiel march, a chamber string and glass rhapsody and a somber harp and phone ballad - it challenges the listener and expresses the development of both acclaimed artists. It is a timeless, refined effort, that both Matt and I are very proud of." Edition of 560.

2013 release. An edited and remastered issue of a tape by the Idea Fire Company quartet, originally released in 2005 - Scott Foust, Karla Borecky, Jessi Swenson & Meara O'Reilly. Rags To Riches is a live record documenting pieces from 2003 through 2005. It showcases some top-shelf unreleased works; "The Whole World," "Metropolis," and "The Bitter End." Older material is also included; a fierce version of "Artificial" from 2005's Stranded, as well as the notorious "Cycle-19." Additionally, there is a beautiful voice-based rendition of "Some Of Us" by Idea Fire Company comrades' The Shadow Ring. All these pieces exhibit a contemplative and well-informed use of electronics, radio, and voice interlaced with spoken title announcements in French, punching typewriter passages and audience dialogue. Their mechanical and uncompromising aesthetic is pronounced, as Rags To Riches reminds us all why Idea Fire Company are such an important contemporary outfit. Edition of 285. Includes color insert with an essay by Scott Foust.

2014 release. Annea Lockwood (b. 1939, New Zealand) has been an active member of the sound art world for over 50 years. Known prominently for her "Glass Concerts", exploring the sonic temperaments of glass; her "Piano Transplants", a performance piece where a piano is lit on fire or partially buried; and "Sound Maps", detailed audio studies of rivers in the United States. She has received international recognition for her unique relationship with sound. Lockwood has taught at a number of universities, most notably at Vassar in New York, where she taught since 1982. Although recently retired, she is still constantly engaged in her art, recording and composing from the world around her. Ground Of Being presents four pieces ranging from 1996 to 2013. Unlike her "Sound Map" albums, which often work environmentally, Ground Of Being tells a more detailed story. It's a moving series of memories, or a collection of different dreams. Annea has a keen connection with the resonances of the Earth; whether it be the detail of water sloshing, the reverberation of a voice in a room, or that of acoustical instruments. With these natural resonances in her palette, a unification of all sounds is formed. For example, the piece "Dusk" (2011) juxtaposes recordings from vents on the bottom of the ocean together with transposed bat calls. Additionally, on Lockwood's composition "Ear-Walking Woman" (1996), performed here by Lois Svard, prepared piano acts as a microcosm of the world of sound - A box with treated strings; a smaller reflection, yet still limitless in its ability to produce frequencies and dynamics. The notion of sound as an extension of the physical realm is brought to mind. The aural temper of water, of wood, of rocks, of wind - Lockwood brings all into focus for our consideration. Edition of 500. Housed in a six-panel wallet, with an insert of writings by Annea Lockwood.

2015 release. A CD reissue of the long unavailable international sound poetry compilation LP, Voooxing Poooêtre. Originally released in 1982, this collection was assembled by Italian sound poet Enzo Minarelli (who has also curated releases on Slowscan and Baobab, in addition to operating the 3Vitre imprint). Comprised of voice works from the 1970s to the early 1980s the collection spans a wide geography; Eastern Europe, France, Italy, Spain, and America. Including text-sound staple Bernard Heidsieck, Dada artist Klaus Groh, Italian artists Agostino Contò and Adriano Spatola (Edizioni Geiger), along with more unknown sound recordings from artists Giovanni Bignone and Grupo Texto Poetico, in addition to works by Minarelli himself. An appealing showcase of some less-prolific sound poets. The recordings have been retransferred from the original 2 inch tape, yet an inherent "home-recording" quality is prevalent in most pieces, which in a sense adds character and becomes part of the art itself. "When you listen to these sound poems, you will notice that they don't look so old as they appear. Many of the pieces anthologized were made in mid-seventies, at the beginning of the eighties, and yet, despite almost four decades, they still explode their power of communication. Why? This is one of the great intuitions caught by sound poets, when one works into this apparently untouchable but really concrete, physical material of orality, vocality, or vocorality to use a neologism of mine, without being limited by the monopoly of meaning so typical of the written language, it keeps himself inside a safe area, an ever-green mix of words and sounds, of phonetics and linguistics, of notes and noises which make it similar to the Dorian Gray of sound poetry!? Re-editing Voooxing Poooêtre, means to re-affirm the validity of the vocorality as a practice of research, that sort of freedom which allows the polypoets to experiment, to move even more and more forward the border of the vanguard." -- Enzo Minarelli, 2015. Edition of 500. Housed in a six-panel wallet, including a 24-page booklet reproducing the photos, scores, and writings from the original LP. Comes with a new foreword written by Enzo Minarelli in 2015. Also includes the works of: Rod Summers, Giovanni Fontana, Richard Kostelanetz, Vladan Radovanovic, Peter R. Meyer, Tibor Papp, Santo S.A. and Jean Jacques Lebel.

2015 release. Recital presents Idea Fire Company's Lost at Sea. Lost At Sea imagines the Idea Fire Company as a bar band on a small cruise ship. There are approximately 40 passengers aboard. Around 2/3 of them are in the lounge for the nightly Idea Fire Company performance. Most of them seem more interested in drink than in music. The ship has become lost and seems to be endlessly circling, Well stocked with booze and food, etc., the ship continues on. Idea Fire Company, armed with only a piano, trumpet, radio and synth provide the nightly entertainment. Lost At Sea is certainly the sister of the also piano-heavy The Music From The Impossible Salon (2011), but Lost At Sea has an air of weary optimism replacing the bleak sadness of Impossible Salon. For almost thirty years, Idea Fire Company has carved their own path, or dug their own hole, depending on your view, through the ever-changing world of underground music - Still violently committed to the avant-garde and to new forms of beauty, still romantic, still idealistic. In the old days, this sort of commitment was better appreciated. As a number of people have said over the years, every Idea Fire Company records sound different, but they all sound like Idea Fire Company. Includes a 4? x 6? postcard and download code. Edition of 400.

Romanzi Nelle I is a stunning new work by Italian sound poet and artist Enzo Minarelli (b.1951). Romanzi Nelle I takes inspiration from the sacred work of Abraham Abulafia (1240-1291), the Jewish mystic and father of linguistic permutation. This edition fully documents the piece, containing audio, video, and literary content. It is rare to get to examine a composition so closely, and I have found to it be an important exercise. Enzo's years of work as a performer and curator come to shine here, and the rainbow of human range is examined - the transposition of meditation, massaging the depth of euphorias, and flipping the coin to paint the curls of despair. A fascinating experience delivered to those who are interested in sound and concrete poetry. Excerpts from book: The Prototype of Permutation: "It is not his life [Abulafia], however challenging it may have been, to have attracted me, but his very original theory of permutational study applied to nouns. If we consider permutation as a creative act, immediately it comes to mind the poetry of Brion Gysin who in 1960 does exploit it in operational terms, although it must be added that his way of permutation was the direct result of programming a computer made by an English student, Ian Sommerville, escaped from Oxford University to take refuge at the Beat Hotel in Paris, where he met Gysin. The same observation must be made for the experience called Tape Mark I (1961) and Tape Mark II (1963), by Nanni Balestrini, where the hardware makes the linguistic choice, or Tag-Surfusion (1996), by Jacques Donguy. They are, in essence, the same kind of texts, acutely called by Max Bense, 'stochastic', as the machine decides for the author. Abulafia, on the other hand, draws his series of permutation, studying the language from its inside, it is the prototype of permutation, the first motionless motor, and without tricks or deceptions, he sets up manually, only with the help of pen and paper, the whole universe of permutation, organizing a constant, linguistic change through a relentless swirl of terminology. Not necessarily, he begins from codified words, but often he takes fragments, syllables, groups of arbitrary monemes that he himself develops and twists exponentially, applying mathematical rules. The declared aim of his exercises is the divine ecstasy." The Primitive Simplicity Of Vocorality: "Romanzi Nelle I is an untranslatable title because it consists of the Italian anagram of my name and surname, in perfect Abulafia style, in its non-sense it means a lot. If it is possible to pursue the writing of the book of the books as Mallarmé was dreaming, moreover I believe I can point at the sound of the sounds, the word of the words, that is the primitive simplicity of vocorality, the big bang of the linguistic explosion, the first sonic imprint. For word, it is not to be understood the comprehensible term, but the arbitrary union of nouns after an eruption, the clinamen, the random fall of syllabic fragments because 'we have to let the letters the chance of continuing to be read [heard], despite the existence of the words' according to a great insight of Rabbi Yosef Razin." Edition of 200. Includes: Hardbound, 71 page, full color book - CD of the 2015 rendition of Minarelli's "Romanzi Nelle I" - DVD holding the original 2013 performance.

"In 2013, I was living in California working as programmer and would talk to 'our friend Eric [Schmid]' on the phone every few days - he's always liked talking on the phone and I liked it then because I could take breaks from work and it was also nice to talk with our friend who was living in New York. He left a year and a half before I did just after the beginning of our final semester at school. He'd returned to the city to finish school shortly after I left to go to work. From August 2014 to October 2015 we were both living in New York. On one of our phone calls he talked about an idea for art production that involved recording all his phone calls. At the time a lot of his calls would come directly after he had emailed a poem to me because he wanted feedback. I think that this CD comprised of all of the voicemails found on his phone dating from the years 2010-2015 is a response to that idea. 'We have a calling to redeem weakness in the moment and to treat this indeterminate material as the solution to psychic stabilization,' he once said. Recently when I played him some recordings I had been working on he reminded me that I had expressed discomfort at his proposal to record all of his phone calls, so he did not do it. I know that his poems had altered the way that I corresponded with him through email and text and the nature of communication over the phone seemed in that sense less productive. The voicemails that are found on a phone are the result of an undirected editing process over time and the production of an album from them is the result of an automatic export process - a found form. I like to think about the voicemails in relation to our friend's bag sculptures and poems. What is the bag? We say: a vessel, something of the kind that holds something else within it. He reminds me that in this context it may be fruitful to make reference to Dieter Roth's Flat Waste, the various vagaries of life, self-portraiture, and auto-biography." -- Michael Pollard, 2016. Edition of 200 copies. Glass mastered CD, housed in jewel-case with four-panel insert.

"Epigenetic Poetry is an anthology documenting the sound works by the Italian sound poet Giovanni Fontana (b. 1946). These pieces, dating from 1968 to 2014, are scarcely available; culled from cassette magazines and art-book compendiums, along with two unreleased recordings. Fontana has been a pioneer of Italian visual poetry, sound poetry, and experimental theater since the mid-1960s. Together with peer Adriano Spatola, Giovanni worked on the publication Tam Tam (founded in 1972). He also rode in the same wagon as Arrigo Lora-Totino, splicing, pasting, and folding the compass of Italy's intermedia. In one light, Fontana's voice erects a brutal and guttural effigy of man, primitive and hermetic. Yet, stepping to the side, one can see the thin strands of support bolstering such combustibles. As chested-strings of a piano, Fontana strikes firmly across the resonating spread of discovery and acceptance. In addition to voice; jaw-harp, guitar, whistle, piano, and harpsichord are featured in these recordings, though the musical elements are secondary to the voice. Mouth, throat and even nose ('Poema a naso' features a microphone inserted in the nostril) take the stage-light. The interconnection between Giovanni's visual and audio artwork is significant. Words twist and dissolve; blotted with ink, soaring across an empty score. This album acts as a frame for these 14 pieces, which can be seen as they are heard, spilling from speakers as letters meeting paper." -- Sean McCann. June 2016. Edition of 315. Includes 16-page 9"x9" pamphlet with three critical essays, score excerpts, artwork, and program notes written by Fontana. Includes download code.

"Music is liquid architecture; Architecture is frozen music." --Johann Wolfgang von GoetheThe relation of sound and architecture has been a recurring theme across the centuries. The earliest examples of sound design stem from the interaction of human voice and various architectural spaces used for worship and ritual. It is these sonic reflections on ritual that are at the root of the latest edition from Japanese ambient maestro Chihei Hatakeyama. Recorded over the period of five years, Mirage is a meditation on the phenomenology of music and architecture. During a field trip to Turkey, Hatakeyama became acutely aware of how architecture shapes sound and through doing so affects the very nature of music's resonance. This condition extends beyond the personal into the collective, creating a certain condition of aurality that operates at a societal level. Walking through the labyrinthian bazaars of Turkey, Hatakeyama took inspiration from the way sounds emerged and decayed within those spaces. Looking to replicate these experiences in the creation of the album, he developed a series of new processes and transformations that expanded his approach to textural music. Weaving in location recordings from these spaces, the record began to take on a hazy abstruse quality; the unfamiliar familiar. As the name suggests, Mirage is about the apparent phenomena that exists only in our perception. Like a strong memory, which can feel so very present yet remain intangible, Hatakeyama's music on Mirage maintains a lucid but utterly transcendent quality. Chihei Hatakeyama is a sound artist, an organizer and mastering engineer born in 1978. He lives in Tokyo. Originally a guitarist, his start in music came during his teen years playing in Tokyo metal bands. Gradually his focus shifted to more adventurous sounds and it was during this time he began to work more exclusively in a solo format. Hatakoeyama produces polychromatic, memory-evoking soundscapes with various recorded materials sourced from acoustic instruments such as guitars, vibraphone, and piano. His work is a meeting of the gestural language he has developed for his instruments and expansive processing via a variety of acoustic and digital sources.

Mike Cooper's output of the past half century has been described as "post-everything". It's a fitting phrase really when you consider he has been at the beating heart of so many critical musical moments; from the development of the blues touring circuit in the UK, through the growth of the folk scene and into the explosion of free improvisation that came to define a generation of UK musicians. Amidst it all, working at stitching these disparate forms into some kind of de-territorialized zone, was Mike Cooper. It's fitting that he explores the notion of journey on his latest full-length edition. Even more fitting that he examines the vessels that carry us on journeys. With Raft, Cooper charts his interests in ambient exotica and collides it with his research into various South Pacific musical traditions. The record extends his palette considerably, stretching away from the hypnagogic flows of his master piece Rayon Hula (2004), into a more oceanic setting. "Raft 21 - Guayaquil To Tully", for example, sets out a lilting rise and fall of harmony which erupts with spluttering electronics. Specifically inspired by Vital Alsar and William Wills, sailors who undertook some of the 20th century's most impressive solo voyages, Raft reflects upon the determination of the solo traveler. In a musical sense, Mike Cooper's work of recent years has very much reflected a determined solo traveler work ethic. In his commitment to travel alone, he has developed a range of strategies that he works against as a means of surprising himself and uncovering unfamiliar sonic relations. This approach has proved an incredibly fertile pursuit for Cooper, arguably producing some of his most affecting and engaging works, his Room40 albums Fratello Mare (RM 462LP, 2015) and White Shadows Of The South Seas (RM 454CD, 2013) amongst them. Raft is a vital record that sets its sights beyond the horizons of convention and in doing so reveals a perspective that is only available to lifelong voyagers such as Mike Cooper. From Mike: "Raft is my tribute to William Willis, Vita Alsar, Jack London, Robert Louise Stevenson, Louis Becke, Adolph Plate, Jacque Brel, FW Murnau and to all sailors, scribblers and drifters everywhere."

This music was written for a project Motorpsycho was invited to be a part of by Trøndelag Teater in 2015. It eventually ended up as the play Begynnelser ("Beginnings"); directed, designed and dramatized by the independent theatre group De Utvalgte based on a new text written by Norwegian author Carl Frode Tiller. It was produced and performed at Trøndelag Teater in Trondheim with a cast drawn mainly from their ensemble. Motorpsycho played live at every performance with a line-up that included "utility psychos" Pål Brekkås or Tos Nieuwenhuizen. The play ran for six weeks in September and October of 2016. Not all of this music was eventually used in the play. The band also wrote a lot more during preparations and rehearsals. It was a long process and most of the music was tweaked in a big way to fit the flow and feel of the play. It was also played live every night, so what you would have heard during the performances would in most instances have sounded very different from this album. But these initial recordings have a certain unity of intent, as well as a sound and a definitive vibe to them that the band feels perhaps represents their input into the project the best. It is what they feel works best as a pure listening experience. The music is not sequenced in the order it was used in the play, and a lot of the music that eventually was played in the performances is missing from this album, so this is perhaps best described as "a version of what it might have been", more than a document of what the soundtrack eventually ended up becoming. One presumes this also probably would explain the title of the album. The titles of the various tracks reflect the band's process. The song names are in many cases inner-band shorthand for associations they gave the composers as they were written, and all of them are additionally graced with a place name taken from the area of Norway that both Hans Magnus Ryan and Bent Sæther of Motorpsycho grew up, and where the play is set. The included DVD contains a documentary and a complete two hour filmed performance of the play -- with English subtitles; DVD is PAL format, region free. So all-in-all, you get a lot of new, original Motorpsycho music.

"To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film, Rustblade is releasing the definitive edition of the soundtrack to Dario Argento's cult film Opera. Argento's long-time collaborator Claudio Simonetti combines classic operatic atmospheres with dark electronic grooves and violently smashing rock. Never was Argento more closely involved in the structuring of one of his film's soundtracks. Includes 3 never before released bonus tracks. Not to be missed!"

LP version. "To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film, Rustblade is releasing the definitive edition of the soundtrack to Dario Argento's cult film Opera. Argento's long-time collaborator Claudio Simonetti combines classic operatic atmospheres with dark electronic grooves and violently smashing rock. Never was Argento more closely involved in the structuring of one of his film's soundtracks. Includes 3 never before released bonus tracks. Not to be missed!"

"Lydia Lunch and Cypress Grove previously unsettled the conventionally calm and respectful world of the cover song with a number of fractured productions. As you might expect, the choice of songs on this collection is a disconcerting array of material ranging from the hugely popular to the wildly obscure; from Jon Bon Jovi to Nashville troubadour Aaron Lee Tasjan, Doors and many others."

LP version. "Lydia Lunch and Cypress Grove previously unsettled the conventionally calm and respectful world of the cover song with a number of fractured productions. As you might expect, the choice of songs on this collection is a disconcerting array of material ranging from the hugely popular to the wildly obscure; from Jon Bon Jovi to Nashville troubadour Aaron Lee Tasjan, Doors and many others."

"Six piece Tuareg rock outfit from Southern Algeria. Hands down the most famous Tuareg band listened to across the diaspora, though unknown in the West. An independent album, recorded and produced in-country without the mediation of the world music industry. Classic rock aesthetic, soulful ballads and polished up-tempo driving electric guitar rhythms, with a myriad of global influences from pitch bending North African synth, reverb-drenched dub, and even Indian Tabla! One of the most complex studio albums from any Tuareg guitar band to date. Plays best in a Land Cruiser, blasting across the open desert. Limited edition, old school 3-color offset sleeves."

Selva Discos present an official reissue of Maria Rita Stumpf's Brasileira, originally released in 1988. Brasileira has been on top of collectors and music lovers' wish lists since "Cântico Brasileiro Nº3 (Kamaiurá)" broke out and cast a spell worldwide. Lucky collectors can listen to the whole album -- with gems such as "Lamento Africano/Rictus" and "A Cidade" -- but it was clear that Brasileira is an oeuvre that more people should have access to. Selva Discos is a new label run by Augusto Olivani and Millos Kaiser (the DJ/production duo known as Selvagem) in partnership with JD Twitch's Optimo Music. Here's an extract from Augusto Olivani and Millos Kaiser's sleeve notes about the Brasileira and the label's launch: "We were aware of the originality and rarity of this album since we put our hands on a copy of the Brasileira LP a few years ago, but it took time to learn that Maria Rita from 'Kamaiurá', the track that carried us away as soon as we first heard it, was the same Maria Rita with whom one of us knew since childhood. To reissue Brasileira became a life mission. Also, it turned to be the seed that allowed Selva Discos to bloom." And another extract, taken from Maria Rita's recollection on the serendipity that triggered this reissue: "Many years passed until I got a call from a close friend saying that his son, whom I had known since childhood, was my fan. I found it funny... I was slowly returning to music after years of directing Antares, a company I created and that brought thousands of artists to Brazil. He was a DJ who played my songs at the Selvagem parties and as he said, did not know that I was me, the same Maria Rita who worked with his father. This was a plot twist, a movie thing." Maria Rita Stumpf is now the owner of Brazilian production company Antares Produções, responsible for bringing international artists, such as Philip Glass and Mikhail Baryshnikov, to Brazil for the past 30 years. After distancing herself from the music business since the original release of Brasileira, she's now back in the game. This reissue was overviewed by Maria Rita Stumpf; Remastered from DAT tape of the original release; Artwork updated by Brazilian design studio Colletivo; Features liner notes by Maria Rita.

The Spirit Of Indonesia is a newly curated collection of traditional tunes from various regions and ethnic groups of the South East Asian archipelago. These historic live recordings are as "first-take" as it gets, conveying the true soul and spirit of this wonderful region, through discrete pieces coming from very different heritages. 45rpm audiophile vinyl; Limited edition of 300.

From the metal chimes of the gamelan, to the Burmese harp, passing through the Chinese Hu Ch'in, a traditional and ancient chordophone-bowed lute, Early Traditional Instruments In Asia is a sheer historical document that represents some of the most ancient instruments known to mankind. 45rpm audiophile vinyl; Limited edition of 300.

"Mombasa was a European band, put together by LA trombonist Lou Blackburn (1922-1990) in 1973. All of their albums between 1975 and 1981 have been recorded in Germany. The trombone of Lou Blackburn carries the lead on most tracks -- snaking out wonderfully over the grooves, with a quality that's amazingly soulful, and which almost has him standing head to head with Fred Wesley as a '70s innovator on his instrument. Other members of the group include Doug Lucas on trumpet, Bob Reed on percussion, Alan Tatham on drums, and Don Ridgeway on electric bass. A great ensemble that knew to mix together jazz and African roots with a sound that's unlike anyone else we can think of -- quite unique in its approach to rhythms, sounds, and solos! On September 2, 1976 Mombasa entered the stage at legendary Stagge's Hotel in Osterholz-Scharmbeck and provided an inspiring and brilliant performance. The complete performance has been preserved and digitally reworked. We are very proud to present this unique audio document Lou Blackburn on Mombasa's music in 1975: 'In describing the music of Mombasa which is a mixture of rhythm, jazz, folklore, blues, spirituals and worksongs, I would prefer not to use the word jazz. Many people ask us, how to describe our type of music. To this I can only answer that I leave it to the audience because I don`t want to give it a label, for me it is simply ours, Mombasa`s music. During the 70's 'Stagge's Hotel' in Osterholz-Scharmbeck (close to Bremen) belonged to a fix part of the tour-schedules of many German and also international bands.' "

Optimo Music presents a new offshoot label, So Low, named after the night of the same name in Glasgow, run by Becky Marshall, Iona McHale, JD Twitch, and Katie Shambles. The label's inaugural release is from Glasgow's much-loved Happy Meals, a duo comprised of Suzanne Rodden and Lewis Cook. Full Ashram Devotional Ceremony Volumes IV-VI is the duo's second album release, following 2014's acclaimed Apero on Glasgow's Night School label. Full Ashram is the name of Happy Meals' recording studio. The Devotional Ceremony is Happy Meals connecting with their cosmic inner selves. They realize their Full Ashram Devotional Ceremony as banishing demons, devils, and ill will. Devote your soul to the positive forces before the misguided, suffering spirits pull you down and wipe you out. While the album is comprised of individual tracks segueing into each other, for full salvation, it is recommended to be listened to as one continuous piece.

Soave present the first vinyl reissue of Riccardo Sinigaglia's Riflessi, originally released in 1986. Riccardo Sinigaglia, along with Gabin Dabiré and Walter Maioli, was a part of Futuro Antico -- one of the most important collaborations to emerge from the 1970s and '80s Italian avant-garde. The project, whose name literally translates to "ancient future", joined traditional sounds and instrumental from around world, with electronic music -- the sonic past, present, and future as one. Recorded shortly after the collective's most prolific period and released in 1986, while more singular and more idiosyncratic, Sinigaglia's Riflessi caries these very concerns at its core. Built from field recordings, collaged samples, synthesis, and unique instrumentations, and shifting from hypnotic rhythm to radical and displacing structures, Riflessi establishes a remarkable link between ancient and non-western musics and efforts emerging from studios like Groupe de Recherches Musicales. A work of staggering rhythm, texture, and beauty, Riflessi builds a world with almost no parallel -- imbuing electronic music with touch, tactility, and humanity, while sacrificing none of its challenges and intellectual heights. Rattling sonorous wonder, emerging for the first time on any format since its original pressing, before us is a historic moment -- a lost piece of the puzzle of the wondrous Italian avant-garde.

Something Happening Somewhere return with a new chapter in the Somewhere series. Somewhere III is released over two vinyl samplers. Love Over Entropy teaming up with Ripperton for "Saints De Glace". Downtempo organic grooves and a drifting melody that ebbs in-and-out of consciousness provide disparity with glimmering pads. Equus's "Ash" picks up the pace with a track that was released on Soma Quality Recordings in 1996. Arik Brikha's disco-fueled "Eat The Heart" feels like it's furiously driving along an electronic highway. A rolling bassline motif creates the fierce backbone for Tracey's "Phase 1", as echo feedback waves in-and-out.

Sonor Music Editions present a reissue Angelo Baroncini and Bruno Battisti D'amario's Music For Movement, originally released in 1969. Another terrific jam and a very obscure Italian library record, originally released on Roman Record Company label, the label responsible for Droga (1972), Traffico (1972), and the Viaggio Attraverso I Problemi Dell'Uomo series. The music is signed by the great guitar players and composers Angelo Baroncini and Bruno Battisti D'Amario, D'Amario being the unmissable guitar man of maestro Ennio Morricone. Crazy early fuzz beats with fast western swings, experimental rock distractions, rhythmic movements, with totally insane acid guitar and sitar riffs and a huge underground psychedelic mood. A truly inspired and deep session recorded for some impossible TV synchronization purpose. Holy grail alert. Original sleazy stereo recording restored sound. Edition of 500.

Sonor Music Editions present a reissue Drammatico, originally released in the early '70s. An absolute Italian library holy grail and maybe the most desired item of the genre, originally released on Panda Records. This totally insane library album conceived by maestro Alessandro Alessandroni and Giuliano Sorgini, under their pseudonyms Braen and Raskovich respectively, is surely their highest point of collaboration. This is a concept album where the music is just out-of-this-world and way ahead of its time, nothing is quite comparable. War-themed and dramatic music, ranging from the most evil electronics to dark fuzz distortions and huge hip hop beats, all driven by a mental, psychedelic madness. A record coming from hell -- an unbelievable session remastered from the original master tapes. Enjoy the trip! Remastered from the original Panda Records master tape; Exclusive liner notes by Marsellus Wallace; Revised by Alfonso Carrillo (RendezVous, LA); Edition of 500.

This grouping of audio recordings is for aural use only. Any emotional content perceived herein is borne of its listener, and is in no way intended by its author. Any sounds resembling speech are not intended to convey meaning. Several Shades Of The Same Color is Patricia's first album for Spectral Sound -- produced in conjunction with his own label Active Cultures. Solo project of Max Ravitz who is also in Inhalants (with Jahiliyya Fields), Masks (with Arp), Patreke (with Terekke), and Pulpo (with Bookworms), among many other projects. Tips for listeners: consider the moment in which you exist; pay attention to how these sounds evoke physiological (rather than cognitive) responses. Listeners may find themselves deriving immense physical pleasure from exposure to these sounds. Inability to achieve such pleasure is likely attributable to over-analysis of the aforementioned audio content -- or to improper amplification. Each of Shades' three LPs features suites of tracks that, considered alone, comprise their own distinct, unique worlds. Part 1 opens with "I Know The Face, But Not The Name", an unabashedly plaintive trip through classic electro rhythms; flip it over for "The Words Are Only Sounds", a haunting affair for synthesizer and voice. Any emotional associations incurred while listening come at the listener's discretion. Furthermore, the identity of the author and/or their passions regarding the recordings herein shall bear no weight on the listener's experience. This body of work is not intended to generate ideas; rather, its goal is to produce physical sensations in the listener. Taken altogether, Several Shades Of The Same Color is kaleidoscopic, a multi-faceted techno trip. Listen in full, or listen in part. And if you consider only one of these intermittent listening notes, make it this one: Don't think; just hear. Comes in a two-panel jacket with a reverse finish; Artwork by Molly Smith.

Spin On Black present an expanded reissue of Orquesta Del Desierto's second release, Dos, originally released in 2003. This reissue features the songs "Rope" and "Reaching Out" which were never released in Europe and "El Diablo Un Patrono", unreleased in the United States. For those who are new to the band, prepare to hear the romance of the desert as you have never heard it before. Dos features a wider variety of arrangements that include compositions from Mark Engel and Mike Riley which created dynamic nuances in the texture of the material, songs began to take on the shape of a group that was maturing into something spectacular. Updated by Harper Hug at Thunder Underground in Palm Springs, California, this new reissue offers enhanced fidelity features not available to the band. By the time Orquesta Del Desierto convened at Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree to record their second, and what would turn out to be their last album, Dos, the line-up from the first album had significantly changed. The core performers, Pete Stahl, Dandy Brown, Mario Lalli, Mark Engel and Mike Riley remained in place, but gone were drummer Alfredo Hernández, percussionist Sean Landetta Carrillo, and the original San Jacinto horn section. It had been a year since the critical success of their self-titled freshman release and during that time, Brown began collaborations with the performers and writers who would appear on the second album. Added to the group were drummers Adam Maples and Pete Davidson, Tim Jones on piano, Emiliano Hernandez on baritone sax, and the lone San Jacinto trumpet of Bill Barrett. After extensive touring and the critical acclaim of Dos, Orquesta Del Desierto disbanded in 2006. What the band accomplished in their brief two-album stay has left an impressive mark on the concept of "desert rock". In the sea of drop-tuned, fuzzed-out guitars that created the image of the "desert rock" scene, Orquesta Del Desierto left behind two collections that show a dimension of the Mojave beyond urgency of volume and distortion. Founded upon music inspired and written by producer Dandy Brown (Hermano), members of the band include or have included vocalist Pete Stahl (Scream, Goatsnake, Wool), drummer Alfredo Hernández (Kyuss, Queens Of The Stone Age, Ché), guitarist Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man) and guitarists Mike Riley and Mark Engel. 180 gram vinyl; Gatefold sleeve; Edition of 500.

Sub Ost present a complete reissue of Guido & Maurizio De Angelis's soundtrack the 1975 film Roma Violenta. This is the complete original soundtrack (with all the outtakes) for one of the most iconic Italian "poliziotteschi" films, the Italian answer to the Charles Bronson/Clint Eastwood mania of the 1970s. Written by the brothers De Angelis, the score alternates between killer, funk grooves and more laidback instrumentals. Presented here for the first time on two LPs; Comes in a gatefold sleeve, with original artwork and film stills. Presented here on limited red vinyl.

Disques Ocora, a French label dedicated to capturing and publishing the sounds of folkloric culture from around the world, is held in the highest possible regard in the realms of professional and amateur ethnomusicology. Instigated in 1958 by Pierre Schaeffer, the founder of musique concrète, Disques Ocora's sterling reputation is largely built on composer and musicologist Charles Duvelle's pioneering field recordings, as well as his now-iconic photographs and graphic design. Charles Duvelle's work is indisputably one of the most important contributions to the human understanding of the rich biodiversity of our planet's music and language. In 1977, his field recordings from Benin were selected by Carl Sagan for inclusion on the Voyager Golden Records, which were carried into outer space by the Voyager spacecraft to stand as an example of humanity's highest musical expressions for the universe's unknown listeners. Sublime Frequencies' most ambitious project to date, this 296-page fine-art photography book comprises an exhaustive collection of Charles Duvelle's field photography from 1959 to 1978 (188 black-and-white and 58 color photographs), demonstrating that this master musicologist had an equally unerring eye for photography; Includes a photo index listing the details of each photograph. It also contains an exhaustive interview with Charles Duvelle by Hisham Mayet, detailing the history of the label and offering Duvelle's unique insights into the discipline of field recording (French and English facing text). The package includes two full-length CDs of archival recordings (some of which have never been published) selected, compiled, and fully annotated by Duvelle himself. Most of the tracks on CD one (Africa) are complete versions of truncated tracks from OOP Ocora LPs. CD two, which includes performances by Sohan Lal, Kheo Oudon, and Madurai Ramaswami Gautam, is focused on material from Asia (music from India and Laos), with two long tracks that have never been released (a third track is a complete unedited version). The material focuses on the five regions surveyed during his time with Ocora: West Africa, Central Africa, Indian Ocean, Pacific Islands, and SouthEast Asia. It includes "Disques Ocora / Charles Duvelle Discography, 1959-1974", a complete overview illustrated with 94 full-color album thumbnails, "The Prophet Collection, 1999-2004" a discography of Duvelle's post-Ocora label illustrated with 41 full-color album thumbnails, "Eastern Music in Black Africa", a 17-page report prepared by Charles Duvelle at the request of UNESCO (February 1970), and a review of the Ocora catalogues (1964-1973). In a tribute to Disques Ocora's exquisite design sensibility, the book is printed on 170 gsm Lumisilk matte art paper and bound in grey buckram with gold foil stamping on the cover and spine. The front cover includes a tipped-on glossy photograph by Charles Duvelle. Hardcover book; 10"x10"; 296 pages; 4.5 lbs. Produced and edited by Hisham Mayet.

"Borbetomagus: A Pollock of Sound is the first feature-length documentary about the legendary improv/noise group Borbetomagus. Filmmaker Jef Mertens brings a raw, urgent, and unpolished vision focusing on a band that has spent almost four decades defining and redefining not just their music, but the boundaries of music itself. Band members Don Dietrich, Donald Miller, and Jim Sauter tell their story with the help of artists, writers, photographers, and filmmakers that include noted critic Byron Coley, drummer Chris Corsano, guitarist Thurston Moore, groundbreaking Japanese noise unit Hijokaidan, and Switzerland's masters of 'cracked electronics,' Voice Crack. Includes never-before-seen archival footage, amazing photographic finds, and previously unreleased recordings."

Peaking Lights are back at it. While the clouds of pessimism hover, rays of sunshine cut and break through with two new tracks for healing and conquering the shadows that loom. The vocal version of "Little Flower" features Chloe Sevigny -- a beautiful, melancholic, yet powerful chant to Saint Therese, an alchemical figure. Peaking Lights' production is a playfully psychedelic mid-tempo love jam with a lot of groove. "Conga Blue" is followed by its instrumental cut; an upbeat weirdo disco cut laying it down at 120bpm with dreamy vocals and a solid rhythm section that holds it together.

Peaking Lights' fifth album, titled The Fifth State Of Consciousness, was produced in their Dreamfuzz studio over two years. It's both a departure from the new and a return to the old with a whole new twist on the psychedelic dub-pop they've become known for. Sonically the album shifts through many states from beginning to end, resonating deep, like a drive through foreign landscapes where you're glued to the window, as everything slowly changes around you. The flow and pacing of songs has a sense of wonderment, and each time you play it, there's a whole new batch of lovely sounds and eccentricities within each of the players. While bringing together their love of psychedelic music, house, electronic, and reggae, each song manages to live its own life and yet still there is some magical thread that binds them together. Produced by Aaron Coyes, the whole creative process was filled with nerdy gadgetry, playful experimentation, and deep alchemical soul searching for a musical medicine. Aaron describes Dreamfuzz as "a small junkyard with many happy mistakes." Using tape machines, writing melodies backwards then playing them in reverse, layering sound upon sound to create "pads", literally breaking electronics to get sounds, and a strict motto of "anything goes, pure creativity." Most sounds were run through Peaking Lights' 1976 16/8 Soundcraft Series Two mixing console (the same type of board used by Lee "Scratch" Perry at Black Ark, and at the infamous Cargo Studios where many of the early Factory Records bands were recorded) to add some "mojo". It's an album that is sure to be a creeper, even if you don't fall in love on the first date.

Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve. Peaking Lights' fifth album, titled The Fifth State Of Consciousness, was produced in their Dreamfuzz studio over two years. It's both a departure from the new and a return to the old with a whole new twist on the psychedelic dub-pop they've become known for. Sonically the album shifts through many states from beginning to end, resonating deep, like a drive through foreign landscapes where you're glued to the window, as everything slowly changes around you. The flow and pacing of songs has a sense of wonderment, and each time you play it, there's a whole new batch of lovely sounds and eccentricities within each of the players. While bringing together their love of psychedelic music, house, electronic, and reggae, each song manages to live its own life and yet still there is some magical thread that binds them together. Produced by Aaron Coyes, the whole creative process was filled with nerdy gadgetry, playful experimentation, and deep alchemical soul searching for a musical medicine. Aaron describes Dreamfuzz as "a small junkyard with many happy mistakes." Using tape machines, writing melodies backwards then playing them in reverse, layering sound upon sound to create "pads", literally breaking electronics to get sounds, and a strict motto of "anything goes, pure creativity." Most sounds were run through Peaking Lights' 1976 16/8 Soundcraft Series Two mixing console (the same type of board used by Lee "Scratch" Perry at Black Ark, and at the infamous Cargo Studios where many of the early Factory Records bands were recorded) to add some "mojo". It's an album that is sure to be a creeper, even if you don't fall in love on the first date.

Aesthetically, Sim Hutchins's Vantablank Stare EP's roiling post-jungle-ism and fractured dub techno recalls N1L and Lanark Artefax, but its conceptually closer to Sam Kidel's Disruptive Muzak (RAVE 014LP, 2016). The music uses samples of radio waves, covert signals, and intercepted E-Comms as the raw material for an impressionistic tussle of invisible forces, translating as disembodied jungle structures in "Some Men (You) Just Want To Watch The World Burn", and as an allegory for textural attrition in "Nescience Is Not Ignorance", whilst "Some Men (Me) Just Want To Let The World Burn" is a knottier tract of warped, quicksilver dub techno.

Victory present a reissue of The Cosmic Jokers' Galactic Supermarket, originally released on Komische Musik in 1974. Julian Cope's review of the album on Head Heritage: "Starting with a heavy piano-drums groove like John Cale and Terry Riley's 'The Protégé' from their classic LP Church Of Anthrax, The Cosmic Jokers return to their trip with an un-cosmic dub beginning, melodicas and guitars spinning off all over the place. Gille Letmann says a couple of words before the breakdown into Clangerland, a place where goofy synthesizers call to each other over exquisite mellotrons and tinkling spacey grand piano. Again, it's just two huge tracks -- this time the ever shifting 'Kinder Des Als' and the title track 'Galactic Supermarket'. The female voices take a while to assimilate after the austerity of the first Cosmic Jokers LP, and the opening track wanders around for a while before ascending to its righteous groove. The women scream 'Schnell Schnell!' and the helicopter drums of Harald Grosskopf propel us once more into a hectic frantic major-chord trance out. It's the sheer unbalance that makes this record such a delight. At times, Klaus Schulze's synthesizer is so loud that it swamps everything in its path. The title track 'Galactic Supermarket' begins like one of Van Der Graaf Generator's greatest and most drawn out riffs. A slow 6/4 bass licks over ominous Pawn Hearts style shifting chords. Again, the piece is slow to begin, as though they are searching for harmony but each musician is confused and solitary. Manuel Göttsching freaks out in a fury of wah-guitar madness, forcing the others awake, but this really is a down-in-the-mouth scene and the whole Trip descends further and further until... an inevitable slow burning groove gets itself together and the scene whips itself up into a Shake Appeal Flip Out. The LP takes a little longer to get into than The Cosmic Jokers, but give it time and it's in your head forever. Those piercingly loud Klaus Schulze synthesizers which sound so bizarre the first time... You'll be waking up with them in your head, whistling them in the street, people will think you've lost your fucking mind. Right On."

2017 repress. Love Will Tear Us Apart should have been the band's most shining moment, instead it became their tragic swan song. Released just a month after frontman Ian Curtis' heart wrenching suicide, the song came to be seen as the unheeded warning of the impending tragedy. This special edition features all three versions of the song that transformed Joy Division from mere band into legend. In addition to the original single version, we have two versions remixed by American producers Don Gehman of John Mellencamp fame (the 'radio version') and Arthur Baker (who also produced a hit single for Africa Bambaataa around this same time). The remaining tracks include "These Days" (which appeared on the original "Love Will Tear Us Apart" single), along with "Transmission" (their debut single released in 1979) and "Atmosphere" (originally released as a France-only single) in 1980.

Former half of Pitch & Hold, Simon Halsberghe steps up on Brussels's Vlek with his debut solo EP as Simon Hold. "Maqam Bruxelloise" reflects the wide-angle beauty and compelling diversity of the Belgian capital. Across a finely layered interplay of synthetic modulations and intricate polyrhythms, Hold arranges pattern-welded textures and prismatic synth motifs according to an interpretation of the traditional Arabic maqam system of improvisation. The gritty "Dhajij Doux" is a more disquieting, bipolar audio scenario. A truly haunting gem with a lead-heavy amalgam of sizzling bass and jagged drum work.

"It's hard to believe that sixteen years have passed since this disc's release. It's also hard to believe that so little ink, physical or digital, has been spilled to assess its qualities -- of which there are tons. To start with the obvious: there can be no Saccharine Trust without the dark insights of Jack Brewer's lyrics and their nervous, halting delivery. The Great One Is Dead is filled to the brim with both. Brewer's writing often seems to focus on the pain of real world relationships, real world failings, and street level real world life in general. His lyrics have always been far from Utopian in scope. It is within their poetic treatment that these stark realities are often given a kind of grace. Listen to 'Water on the Dance Floor' or 'The Sadness of Apollo' or 'Untitled No. 2 (I Gave Another Dimension the Slip)' for prime examples of his lyrical prowess in these matters. Disaster Amnesiac has often been enthralled by Brewer's lyrical pictures of urban California life. The way old fishermen are described in 'Birthing the Ancestors,' and the ubiquitous liquor store of 'Neruda's Wave,' and the tweaker friend of 'Reggie's Plateau.' These, among others, have often reminded me of similar scenes in my haunts within the Golden State. Praise must also be given to Brewer for his unique, expressive and highly personal vocal style. When you hear Jack Brewer, you know its Jack Brewer. Score one for individuality in the face of boring (industry) standards! On The Great One, Brewer uses varied mic and recording effects to alter the sound of his vocals to great effect, too. Speaking of sound, one would be pressed to find as creative a guitar player as Jack's long-time cohort in Saccharine Trust, Joe Baiza. That is not to say that Baiza's technical prowess is lacking -- it is not. Joe's guitar playing has been in continuous development for thirty-plus years now, as anyone who has followed Saccharine Trust and Universal Congress Of can attest to. From the early, skewed punk rock chord sounds of early S.T. to his later jazz-inflected capital 'L' lead playing of both bands, Baiza has grown as a writer and player, all the while retaining the rawness and edge (hey, it's the blues, once again!) so necessary for effective, impacting, physical oomph that makes for great rock guitar. Joe adds many purely noise/sound effects to his more linear guitar parts on The Great One. These industrial (in the machine/scrap metal sense, not in the NIN/Skinny Puppy spooky dance sense), paired with his dexterous runs, lead and color the tunes. His guitar tone is fuzzy and echo-y, adding to the raw, claustrophobic feel of the overall sound of the disc. Great, disturbing cover illustration from Joe, to boot." Gatefold sleeve.

"Debut LP by Portland Oregon sextet! One can find evidence of a pretty broad array of musical touchstones on Abronia's Obsidian Visions/Shadowed Lands: Morricone Spaghetti Western soundtracks, spiritual free jazz, Tuareg guitar bands of the Sahara, drone metal, 70's Krautrock, Ethiopiques, Glenn Branca, outlaw country, various tribal music, 60's psychedelia, and maybe even a little 80's goth. Recorded onto 2" tape by Jason Powers (Grails, Moon Duo etc.) at the venerable Type Foundry Recording Studio, this album is a document of the first five completed compositions by the six piece. Replacing your standard drum set with an early 70's 30" marching drum, which proves to be a proper centerpiece for the guitars, lap steel and saxophone to create mesmerizing and sometimes cacophonous soundscapes. Everyone gathered around the drum and played together, with minimal overdubbing. It's a snapshot of a band coming right out of the gate with a powerful, realized vision, that in actuality was a long time coming for this group of veteran players."

Limited edition LP version. Includes 7" and extensive 24-page liner notes; Japanese obi; Sleeve with silver gilt printing. We Release Whatever The Fuck We Want Records present the ?rst ever official vinyl pressing of the soundtrack for Mamoru Oshii's critically acclaimed and all around legendary science ?ction anime ?lm Ghost In The Shell (1995), adapted from Masamune Shirow's groundbreaking manga series of the same name. The haunting score is composed by Kenji Kawai, one of Japan's most celebrated soundtrack composers alongside Joe Hisaishi and Ryuichi Sakamoto, whose work includes Hideo Nakata's Ring (1998) and Ring 2 (1999), Death Note (2006), Hong Kong ?lms Seven Swords by Tsui Hark (2005) and Ip Man by Wilson Yip (2008), and countless others. Kawai's compositions see ancient harmonies and percussions uncannily mesh with synthesized sounds of the modern world to convey a sumptuous balance between folklore tradition and futuristic outlook. For its iconic main theme "Making Of Cyborg", Kawai had a choir chant a wedding song in ancient Japanese following Bulgarian folk harmonies, setting the standard for a timeless and unparalleled soundtrack that admirably echoes the ?lm's musings on the nature of humanity in a technologically advanced world. Ghost In The Shell is widely considered one of the best anime ?lms of all time and its in?uence has been felt in the work of numerous movie directors, including James Cameron's Avatar (2009), the Wachowskis's The Matrix (1999), and Steven Spielberg's AI: Arti?cial Intelligence (2001). For fans of anime, manga, movie soundtracks, science ?ction, ambient, folklore, Japan, Akira (1988), arti?cial intelligence, Midori Takada. Cut from the original master reels at Emil Berliner Studios (formerly the in-house recording department of renowned classical record label Deutsche Grammophon), the album comes in two versions: a standard LP and a limited collector's edition which comes housed in a sleeve with silver gilt printing and includes the LP, a bonus 7", Japanese obi, and extensive 24-page liner notes.

A skyscraper extending its fingertips upwards, outstretched and pointing towards an unmarked ceiling that extends even more itself, spinning and slicing its way through the horizontal and the layers that are see through and infinite and stacked one on top of the other.

"Throttle Elevator Music Area J 'Absolutely Thrilling sophomore release from the jazz-rock outfit, who bring a garage band attitude to some very tuneful songs. Comprised of Wide Hive label artists (The Wide Hive Players) and featuring saxophonist Kamasi Washington, who just burns on this recording without sacrificing a bit of lyricism. Trumpeter Erik Jekabson guests on a few tracks, too. For jazz fans who like their music to spit fire and rock fans who like a sax that knows how to break down walls. Recommended' --Wondering Sound."

new releases are also viewable at http://www.forcedexposure.com/new/newindx.html